Post Tagged with: "Jesus"

A conservative North Carolina pastor’s final solution to get rid of gay people pits him against the life and teachings of Jesus, argues young evangelical and North Carolina native (and pastor’s son) Andrew Simpson.

When RE blogger Nate Roberts first started discovering God in places that God wasn’t supposed to be — in the life of Gandhi, Eastern religious traditions, etc. — it startled him… until he remembered Jesus’ teaching about other sheep.

If we focus too much on the emotion of Jazz (or Christianity), then it becomes something we do for our own consumption rather than because of its beauty. And if Jazz veered away from its roots and began to sound exactly like classical music or sounded too much like grunge rock it would no longer be Jazz. Likewise, Christianity that looks like generic spirituality is no longer Christianity

In an attempt to hold together the disparate constituencies of social conservative Christians and libertarian Tea Partiers, Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders have attempted to create an unholy trinity of Ayn Rand, Jesus Christ, and the GOP. But, as the classic children’s song goes, “One of these things is not like the other.”

Upon hearing about the death of Osama Bin Laden, I was immediately struck with a profound sadness. Something about the events surrounding Bin Laden’s death causes me to mourn something bigger: the limits of human love.

Blogger Stephanie Smith explores the collision between Good Friday and Earth Day, which fall on the same day this year. She observes, “We are all trembling and groaning, whether oil spills or aching hearts, failed crops or painful consequences of sin—these are all symptoms of a world desperately waiting for redemption.”

Meeting Palestinian Christian Elias Chacour was a catalyst for deeper reflection on the radical good news of Jesus’ life and teachings. Prior to meeting him, my understanding of the gospel was based in experiences of white, suburban evangelicalism, rather than in the literal oppression and physical confinement of many who live at the margins.

For years now, many faith leaders have been making the argument that the Federal budget is a moral document. The argument is simple: the choices we make reflect what our national priorities are. What does it say about America that the vast majority of proposed budget cuts will hurt the most vulnerable people at home and abroad?

It pains me to invoke the subject of the Charlie Sheen drama, especially now that its initial allure has mercifully waned in (some parts of) the news cycle. But in the slightly more composed wake of the Sheen publicity frenzy, its reverberations deserve deeper reflection. Jennifer Crumpton weighs in.

March Madness leads me to think about the complexities and role of encouragement within community. There is the fist bump after a great play, the corporate celebration when you have just gone on a big scoring run and forced the other team to call a timeout. But there is also the “come on!”, “you gotta stay with them!”